We took a look at Gooey, the thumbing four-player brawler, at Nordic Game Conference earlier this year.
I don’t think there is a single person who didn’t play with gloopy putty or some sort of jelly-like substance as a child. Now imagine that child-like essence but as a four player brawler and you have the concept of Gooey.
Gooey is a typical free-for-all arena brawler with support for two to four players, where the last man standing wins. The idea is simple: defeat your opponents by punching, bumping or ground-pounding them out of the arena and ensure you are the last gloop standing to win the match.
The gameplay is quick, fast and addictive, as the developer has added a unique element to a standard brawler to make it stand from the crowd. Players can grab opponents’ mass to grow big, powerful but slow, or throw their mass to become small and agile. This versatility pushes it away from your standard brawler and really forces you to think about your attacks to ensure you come away victorious.
Being a game jam project, Samuli Kinnunen, one of its creators, explained Gooey only has one map to play due to the time limit. However, even then, the concept was clear enough to see this could be a great game which would test your friendship with your friends! The map environment has been designed to ensure that not only do you have to keep an eye on your opponent, but where you place your gloop, as any wrong footing could see you fall into any of the holes set within the stage.
Gooey’s visuals are bright and colourful — as you would expect from being a mass of gloop. The four characters are uniquely designed and show off a different personality, even if each character’s attacks are the same; it helps ensure you will never lose track of who you are playing, in the equally vibrant arena.
The game is free to download from its page on the global game jam site.
